Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Destination Space (1960)

Just a simple one today with a great cover. Popular Mechanics would put out special issues on different topics. Right before there were manned launches they released this one.

I love these aerospace company speculative space paintings. There were so many possible designs that it seemed like the future was limitless.

I also like how the science fiction ideas from the early 1950s, such as Space Marines or a U.S. Space Force were shown as the protectors of the sky. I think a lot of companies' responses to Sputnik ended up with a vision of a "cop on the beat" protecting U.S. skies.